April 09, 2009

An Idea Whose Time Has Come

Jim Leavitt, right, is getting ready to run a timed 40-yard dash are part of South Florida's spring game festivities, with a goal to "break a six-flat." Leavitt, 52, joked this week that he would beat Florida's Urban Meyer, Florida State's Bobby Bowden and Oklahoma's Bob Stoops in a race, which got Brett McMurphy of the Tampa Tribune thinking. What if there was an actual 40-yard dash competition between coaches?

McMurphy sizes it up, including a look at how Kansas' Mark Manginio would fare: "Back in 2007, the coaches’ 40-yard dash competition was unknowingly held on a downhill plane. Mangino tripped at the start and literally rolled to the victory in 4.2 seconds. Since then organizers have made sure the race was held on an even surface and Mangino hasn’t been able to match that success."

Of UCLA's Rick Neuheisel, he writes: "Neuheisel hasn’t fared well in the 40-yard dash lately, but he has correctly predicted the winner and won the 40-yard office pool in each of the past three years."